It’s always easier to agree on faculty benefits and salaries when you can do it arbitrarily.

Following that logic, anyone can understand the reasoning of the Maricopa County Community College District’s governing board when they recently voted to eliminate a 40-year-old “meet and confer” negotiation process.

5,861 faculty now have no way to offer input

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The Maricopa Community College District opened in 1963 and is among the largest community colleges in the country today. The district educates students seeking two-year degrees or certificates, transferring to four-year institutions or brushing up on skills. See the 10 colleges that make up the district, when they opened and the number of students they educate.
Maricopa Community College District

Phoenix College, 1202 W. Thomas Road, opened in 1920 and was the first school to become part of the Maricopa Community College District. The school enrolled 18,844 part- and full-time students in the 2014-15 year.
Maricopa Community College District

Rio Salado Community College, 2323 W. 14th St., Tempe, opened in 1978. Focused on online education, the school enrolled 56,472 part- and full-time students in the 2014-15 year.
Maricopa Community College District

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Sure, the board may become more efficient because that’s what happens when they can do what they want without the nuisance of those pesky folks who represent educators.

But they’re wrong.

They’re wrong to snub the only folks who’re still clinging to the crumbling 200,000-student college system. There are 1,404 full-time faculty and 4,457 adjunct faculty. And they’re justifiably outraged with the board’s decision.

People like Hendrix are publicly elected board members seeking a position of power while the educators are the ones on the trenches, giving anyone who wants an education the chance to get it.

It’s also upsetting that the board eliminated the negotiation process without a plan on how faculty can provide their input over salary and working conditions.

Why attack teachers, given these problems?

The college district is already besieged with all sorts of problems that threatens its sustainability. Why go after the educators – the bedrock of the 10-college system?

The board should and must reconsider its decision. And Maricopa Chancellor Maria Harper-Marinick must not hide behind the board’s decision.

The chancellor seemed to downplay the “meet-and-confer” decision, telling the Arizona Republic Editorial Board “is what it is” and that she gets paid to implement decisions.

That explanation isn’t good enough.

The chancellor should be the guiding light, assertive and decisive over important issues like managing the faculty.

Harper-Marinick has been on a tough spot since taking over in 2016. She’s aggressively been building community support to find ways to finance the district because she can’t count on Gov. Doug Ducey and the GOP-controlled state Legislature for financial backing.

But she seems to be leaving her faculty behind, and that’s not good for anyone.

If colleges collapse, Arizona loses

Can they trust or help her get the colleges out of the mess if she’s merely implementing the whims of the board without a fight? Otherwise, the faculty deserves to know if she, too, wants the bargaining process gone.

And why would the rest of Arizonans care about saving the community colleges? Because it makes financial and social sense.

Think about it. It’s the only place anyone can enroll without going broke. Want to attend a four-year university but don’t have the money or the grades? Go to a community college and then transfer. Want a technical career instead? No problem.

In the end, it’d be a lot more difficult and possibly expensive to get the necessary workers for important jobs every Arizonan needs, including plumbers, electricians and carpenters.

We can’t let the governing board and top management accelerate the collapse of the colleges.